Foundations of Population Dynamics

3 units

How do morbidity and mortality patterns differ across countries and over time? What are the causes and consequences of aging populations? What is the impact of migration on the demographic structures of destination societies? How do policies influence fertility desire and behaviors? Is there a limit to human life expectancy? This course will address such questions by introducing students to the key theories and elementary measures for understanding how vital events-deaths, births, and migration-shape the structure of human societies around the world. Merging insights from Sociology, Demography, Population Health, Global Health, and Population Biology, we will study the social, economic, and political causes and consequences of changes in human populations in terms of their size, composition, and distribution. In addition to reading key theories and perspectives about population change (e.g. , epidemiologic & demographic transitions), students will also learn fundamental methods of demographic analysis (e.g., estimating population growth, standardizing mortality rates, constructing life tables). While this course involves some basic quantitative analyses, students with basic math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) will have no trouble. We will work on calculations together in class, and you are encouraged to work on problem sets in groups.